i24 News – In a UN report which found that 2,515 children were killed and 5,555 maimed in global conflicts in 2021, Israel and “the Palestinian Territories” – the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and Gaza – were among the list of countries that had the highest number of verified violations against children.
The annual “Children and Armed Conflict” report also verified the recruitment and use of 6,310 children in conflicts globally last year. Other violations it covers are abduction, sexual violence, school and hospital attacks, and denial of aid.
Other countries that the report said had the highest verified violations against children included Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia.
The children and armed conflict report includes a blacklist intended to shame parties to conflicts in the hope of pushing them to implement measures to protect children. It has long been controversial, with diplomats saying Saudi Arabia and Israel exerted pressure in recent years in a bid to stay off the list.
Israel has never been on the blacklist, while a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen’s civil war was removed from the list in 2020 several years after it was first named for killing and wounding children in Yemen.
In its report, the UN said it verified 2,934 grave violations against 1,208 Palestinian children and nine Israeli children – 915 boys, 302 girls – in Israel, the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Israeli security forces killed 78 Palestinian children, maimed another 982, and detained 637 in 2021, the report added.
“Should the situation repeat itself in 2022, without meaningful improvement, Israel should be listed,” UN chief Antonio Guterres wrote in the report.
this is a report from the United “Arab” Nations not the UN
I hope Biden will take this seriously.